Devil Bat Army
by The Mauve Lantern
Summary: With the seniors forced to step down, the rest of the Devil Bats must bring together a not just a team, but a powerful Devil Bat Army. They'll face old rivals and new enemies along the way to total domination of the football world! R


_As we go out_

_Into that great, unknown future,_

_I know that I will be able to face it_

_When I run together with all of you… _

**Touchdown 1: That 100-Yard Destiny**

1 week ago…

"_I'm going to be WHAT?!?"_

_In the ever-expanding clubhouse on the far side of Deimon High School, the American football team was gathered around a large craps table. Present at the meeting were the second-years who would be leaving the club and the first-years who would be taking their place. Yoichi Hiruma sat at the far end of the table, like some evil boss of a corporation, staring down Sena Kobayakawa, who was shivering with anticipation at the prospect presented to him. The teammates who would remain on the team with him were all in equal shock._

"_HA?!"_

"_HAA?!!"_

"_HAAA?!!!"_

"_HUH?!?"_

"_MUKYAA?!!"_

"_AH-HA-HAHA?!"_

"_Yaa!" cheered Suzuna Taki, head cheerleader for the football team. "Sena's the new captain!"_

"_The choice was unanimous, Sena," said Ryokan Kurita, the former center of the line. "We've seen incredible progress in everyone on the team, but you of all people have changed the most."_

"_When I first saw you, I honestly thought that there wasn't much you could offer to the team; I'm proud to say you've proved me wrong a thousand times over," chimed in Gen "Musashi" Takekura, former kicker. "You've come into your own as a man and as a player, Sena."_

"_That's right, Sena," said Mamori Anezaki, the team manager, as her eyes filled with tears. "You're not the scared little boy who needed protection from bullies anymore. You've become a hero to a lot of people, y'know. You're the perfect choice here."_

"_M-Mamori," stammered Sena, "I—"_

"_Okay, enough with the sappy crap!" cackled Hiruma as he leaned back in his chair. "Yes, the fucking shrimp is now the captain of the team. I've got some even bigger news for you bastards: Since we've become national celebrities, I convinced the fucking drunk to give us a proper team this time around. That means we'll be getting a real offense line and defense line now. We'll have a fucking army at our disposal, ke-he-he!"_

"_Monsieur Hiruma," sang Natsuhiko Taki, current tight end, "I do not mean to intrude upon your words, but what exactly do you mean when you say 'we'? Even I know that that makes it sound like you'll still be a part of the club!"_

_Manabu Yukimitsu, former wide receiver for the team, leaned over to Hiruma and whispered, "You didn't tell them about the new rules, Hiruma?"_

"_Tell 'em yourself, fucking baldy," the ex-quarterback hissed in glee._

"_Very well. After speaking with the principal about changing things in the club, he was more than happy to change the system for us…in a sense. As of right now, we can all still be a part of the team," said Yukimitsu._

"_Really? That's great, Yuki!" Raimon "Monta" Taro shouted from his seat._

"_You would think, Monta, but it's not that easy. While we are allowed to be involved in the team, we can't play in the games. That was the one thing the principal absolutely wouldn't budge on," the brainy boy groaned. "But we're going to be involved in something even better now."_

_Hiruma stood from his chair and declared, "Take a good look at your new coaches, bastards! We're going to stick around and teach these new players the way things work here on our team. Let nothing stand between us and the new Devil Bat Army as we take out the Easter Bowl and the Christmas Bowl once again!" When he finished, Hiruma pulled a machine gun out and began to fire away, cackling with manic glee. Although they were all terrified, the rest of the Deimon Devil Bats felt the same way._

_This new season would be one to remember…_

***

_Now…_

Deimon High School was rife with activity, as this was the day the incoming middle school students would find out whether or not they were accepted in. While most students were flocking around the boards, searching for their test ID number, there was one student who stood behind the pack. His name was Yasushi Shirahata, and he didn't want to be bothered by such annoying things as crowds or hustle and bustle.

Yasushi was a gifted student, excelling in just about anything and everything he did, whether it was sports or school. He had a knack for analyzing a situation quickly and understanding it, though this talent wasn't without its drawbacks. The fact that he could break down a person's personality in the blink of an eye meant that he knew (or at least he thought he knew) most people enough to know to avoid them. In all his fifteen years of life, Yasushi had made a point to avoid most people; if he needed to work together with someone, he would simply tolerate their presence, nothing more.

Yet, for some reason, people (girls, in particular) tended to flock to him. He was quite tall for his age, towering over many of his classmates with his five foot, ten inch frame, and he was built with lean and ropy muscles. Yasushi had to wear glasses, and they only seemed to magnify his piercing blue eyes and shocking white hair. He was a handsome young man who drew in women with his looks and then cast them aside with his harsh words.

Today, Yasushi had come alone to see if he had made it into the high school. Word on the street was that the school would take anybody that took the entrance test since so few people ever took it, but this year was different. Last year, the American football club had garnered international attention when they went through a meteoric rise to the top of the football world. This meant that many men wanted to enter the school so they could join the team, and many women wanted to join so that they could meet the star athletes. Yasushi cared for neither.

As he waited for the crowd to disperse, a tall and muscular middle school student ran over to Yasushi, nearly bowling him over in the process. A small and slender girl was right behind him, begging the other student to stop.

"Yooooohhh, Yasushi!" the boy exclaimed.

"Taiki, don't do that! You're making too much of a scene!" the girl screeched, not realizing that even her shrieking was attracting attention.

Both the boy and the girl were wearing the student uniforms from Yasushi's middle school, though the boy's had a number of patches in the jacket. The boy, Taiki, was very big and muscular, the opposite of Yasushi's frame, though he was a lot less handsome. The girl had her green hair in two braided ponytails that came off the sides of her head and wire-rim glasses balanced precariously on her dainty nose. While the girl was furiously pounding on Taiki's back with her tiny fists, Yasushi stared at them, recalling them from middle school.

"Taiki Nakano, Class 3-B. Maki Hasegawa, Class 3-B. Is there anything I can help you with?" he coldly asked.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend?!" Taiki roared as he tried once more to tackle Yasushi to the ground. Once again, he met with failure, as Yasushi stepped to the side.

"We're hardly friends, Nakano. Just because I have somehow always had class with you since primary school does not mean we are friends in the slightest. Classmates, yes, but nothing more," Yasushi replied.

"G-Good morning, Yasushi!" Maki shouted as she hopped up onto her feet. "Are you doing well?"

Yasushi hesitated before answering, "Well enough. I would much prefer to be reading a book back at my house instead of being here, but my mother forced me out. In all honesty, I believe the woman simply grew tired of me doing nothing all day."

Most people could never drag that many words out of Yasushi, but Maki just seemed to have a way about her that made him have small, polite conversations with her. Sometimes this was mistaken for affection by other parties, but both Yasushi and Maki were quick to deny any rumors. The reason they got along so well was because, while in middle school last year, they were both the class president (Maki) and the vice-president (Yasushi); it was in Yasushi's best interest to get along with her. Maki needed no reason to start talking with somebody, as she was just an exuberant person by nature.

"So, why are you over here, Yasushi? Don't you need to know whether or not you got in?" asked Maki as she started bouncing up and down in an attempt to see the board over the crowd. Her attempts were met with failure each time.

"There's no point in that, Hasegawa. I am already ninety-seven percent sure that I've been accepted here and I refuse to push my way through this crowd to affirm this fact. I'll just wait here until the peanut gallery has moved," Yasushi muttered.

Both Maki and Yasushi didn't like confrontation, as she preferred to get along and work together with people, while he simply disdained people in general. Taiki Nakano was without this problem.

"Oy! Move so we can see if we got in or not!" the muscular boy roared. He began to shove students left and right as he cut a path through the mob in front of the boards. Maki and Yasushi followed right behind him, with Maki apologizing to every person that got thrown aside in Taiki's mad stampede. Finally, when they got to the boards, Taiki launched one last middle school student over his shoulders before scanning the board for his number.

Yasushi came up behind him and also searched for his number. "It amazes me how you manage to prove your usefulness at the most opportune moments, Nakano," he said passively.

"Making holes is what I do best!" Taiki exclaimed.

"I guess that explains why your grades were so bad last semester!" Maki giggled.

"Oy! Are you looking down on me?!" shouted Taiki at the top of his lungs. A reprimanding glare from Yasushi kept him from pursuing the fact even further.

"Rather than berating Nakano, fun though it might be, wouldn't it be a better use of your time if you found your number, Hasegawa?" the white-haired youth coldly questioned.

Maki blushed in embarrassment and began to scour the board for any traces of her number.

"146…146…do either of you guys see it on here?" she asked the boys.

"Check the next board. That's where the hundreds are," said Yasushi.

"Thanks, Yasushi!" Maki cheerfully said as she dashed over to the next board.

It hadn't taken long for Yasushi to find his number on the board. '005' was up there, clear as day and in black and white. How anyone could miss their number on the board was beyond him.

"What the hell?! I can't find my number!" Taiki hollered at Yasushi.

"What's your number, Nakano?" Yasushi asked, trying to remain as calm as he could under the circumstances. The sooner he helped out Taiki, the sooner the imbecile would be out of his hair.

"It's…um…ooh! '027'! That's what it is!" Taiki exclaimed.

Yasushi scanned the board for a moment before he happened upon the number in question.

"There it is, right under '025' and '029'. How on earth did you manage to miss that?" Yasushi hissed. "Don't tell me you're really that stupid. I already had low expectations of you; don't make it any worse for yourself."

"It's not my fault! The numbers are all out of order!" shouted Taiki. "You'd have to be a moron not to know that 'twenty-six' comes before 'twenty-seven' and 'twenty-nine' comes after 'twenty-eight'!"

"So how come you couldn't find it then?" asked Yasushi

"I- it ju-" Taiki began to stammer, not even completing a full sentence. Before he could actually get one word out in retaliation, a girl interrupted him.

"Hey! You two piss-heads mind moving?! Some of us need to know if we're going to high school or not!" the girl said as she pushed Yasushi to one side.

To say that Yasushi had never seen anyone like her before was a lie; he knew plenty of girls with her attitude and style. She was dressed in a common school uniform, but the neckerchief was missing from her shirt and the first few buttons were undone despite the cold March air, the shirt itself looked to be too small on her, and the skirt was too short, showing off her shapely legs. Her rust-red hair was trimmed in a boy's cut, giving her a 'tomboy'-look overall. At first glance, she didn't seem to be very tall, not even reaching Yasushi's shoulders. As she stamped past him, Yasushi knew that he didn't like this girl.

"Let's see, let's see…where's '014'?" she asked aloud. As she stared up at the board with hardened eyes, a boy smoking a cigarette came up behind her. Without even looking at the girl, he swatted her butt.

"Yuuto! What the hell, jerk?!" she screamed. "You don't need to do that to get my attention!"

"Maybe if you stopped dressing like a hooker, I wouldn't treat you like one," the boy murmured as he also started looking for his number. The girl huffed in indignation and stamped her feet but simply resigned to searching the board again.

Yasushi began to analyze the girl's companion, 'Yuuto'. He was short, definitely shorter than the girl was, but he carried himself in such a swagger that it made him seem taller by comparison. He had black hair that was gelled back behind his head in a spiky style, like some sort of anime character of some kind. His student uniform was similar to Yasushi's, though Yuuto was wearing a scarf around his neck. Yuuto's face was like some shady man's: weasel eyes, pointed nose, and fang-like teeth completed the picture. Yasushi hated to think that he could possibly be in a class with such a clearly reprehensible figure.

"'037'…made it. Find yours yet, Shizuka?" asked Yuuto.

"Yep! I'm in, as if there was ever any doubt!" the girl exclaimed with a cocky grin.

"Weren't you the one who was so worried about the exam that you started cry-"

"NO! We are NOT talking about that!" screeched Shizuka, clearly trying to cut off Yuuto. She pulled him away through the gathered crowd, fuming at her own embarrassment.

After watching the scene unfold, Maki ran up to Yasushi and Taiki with a blinding smile on her face.

"You guys, I did it! I made it in! I was so worried that I wouldn't but I saw my number right up there on the board. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!" she screamed as she leapt at Taiki. Despite her small size, she managed to bowl over the huge boy, who fell to the ground ranting and hollering in surprise. Yasushi sighed in pity at their idiocy and turned his eyes to the school that he would be attending.

"Deimon…how positively unimpressive…" he mumbled under his breath.

***

While Taiki was spinning Maki around in the air and Yasushi was staring up at the high school, three pairs of eyes were watching from behind a corner. The three belonged to Yoichi Hiruma, Ryotan Kurita, and Sena Kobayakawa, who was failing to convince the other two to not do what they were about to do.

"Ke-ke-ke! Look at the fresh meat!" Hiruma cackled as his breath seethed out from between his razor-sharp teeth.

"I-I-I-I-I still don't think th-th-th-this is a good i-i-i-idea, Hiruma!" Sena stammered as he eyed the former quarterback warily. He turned to Kurita for support, but the enormous man was quivering with almost as much excitement as when he first met Sena. The new captain of the American football team groaned in defeat and followed the two out as they charged out into the crowd of incoming students.

"Go for the tall one!" Hiruma whispered to his accomplices. They both nodded in reply.

"The tall one" was a student that was much taller than the others, standing almost a head taller than the tallest one in the crowd. From behind, they could tell he had shaggy, brown hair that fell all the way to his shoulders, and that he wasn't wearing a middle school uniform. Regardless, they ran up behind him, picked him up, and tossed him high into the air.

"Hooray! Congratulations! You did it!" the football players cheered as they hefted the boy into the air three times. The smiles on their faces were of falsity (Hiruma), genuineness (Kurita), and nervousness (Sena), but, to the student they were tossing into the air, it didn't matter, so long as the people actually put him down.

When they finally set him down onto the ground, Hiruma proffered the boy a sleek, black cellphone.

"Why don't you call your folks, let them know you got in?" he asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. The boy looked at him in confusion and fear.

"What you want me for? You want money?" he asked with a very broken, thick accent.

And that's when Sena and the others saw it: the boy was a foreigner. They could tell by looking at his blue eyes and his oddly-shaped face that he was from the United States. The way he spoke Japanese merely cinched the fact.

"You…you're from…America?" Sena asked slowly, making sure that he said the words correctly in English.

"Y-Y-Yes. My name Kyle Gould. I from New York!" the foreigner said as he got to his feet.

"You want to play American football, fucking foreigner?" asked Hiruma in perfect English.

"The hell did you just call me?! Wait, you speak English??" Kyle asked, bewildered at the turn of events.

"Answer my question. You want to play American football or not?"

"Yes! That's why I came here: I transferred over from America so that I could play for this team!"

"We're having try-outs three days from now. Be there." hissed Hiruma in mixture of menace and delight. Kyle nodded his head vigorously and ran off, probably to get away from Hiruma. When Sena and Kurita looked to Hiruma for answers to what he had just said, Hiruma gave them a 'thumbs-up' sign.

"We've got ourselves a player, bastards. Now we just need to find some others," said Hiruma with glee as he began moving to the next nearest student. That's when his eyes met with Yasushi's.

***

Yasushi had watched the football players charge out of nowhere and hurl an American student high up into the air with a feeling of incredulity. He wondered if the principal knew about this, and, if he did, why he did nothing to put a stop to it. While pondering this, he locked eyes with one of the players, who looked something like a demon, and Yasushi's gaze turned into something akin to a glare. This person, this demon, was meant to be terrifying, like a bully from Hell, but Yasushi refused to let the player make him fear. Likewise, it appeared that the demon would not back down to Yasushi's withering glare either; instead, he walked up close to Yasushi and got into his face.

"Can I help you?" Yasushi demanded in a cold voice that made everyone who listened freeze in their place.

"Yeah, you can help me, fucking four-eyes," Hiruma menaced.

"How so?" droned Yasushi.

"You can help me…by showing up at the football try-outs in three days!" Hiruma explained as he tossed a pile of fliers into Yasushi's arms.

"You too, fucking bonehead!" the demon chortled in demented mirth when he threw a similar pile at Taiki.

"Come on, you bastards! There're more victims to find!"

Hiruma led Sena and Kurita into the on-looking crowd and over to another unsuspecting student, who they also tossed up into the air. Yasushi and Taiki peered at the piles of papers they had, then at each other, and then back at the papers. They both began looking at the fliers, which all seemed to say repeatedly 'Join the American football team! Join the American football team!' The first impression made, Yasushi dumped the papers unceremoniously onto the ground.

"You gonna go to this try-out, Shirahata?" inquired Taiki. "I think this sounds pretty cool! I've always wanted to try my hand at football."

"I have no intention of going to this thing, Nakano, and I suggest you do the same. Judging by what I have seen of the team so far, we can assume that they are all forced to work under the thumb of that demonic student; I don't want any part of that. Besides, if I wanted to get exercise, I would simply return to swimming or jogging. American football doesn't interest me in the slightest," droned Yasushi.

"What?! Don't you know who those guys are?! Those are the Deimon Devil Bats, the ones who made it all the way to the Christmas Bowl this past year!" bellowed Taiki.

"For the love of God, shut up. I know exactly who they are and I know their record of violence and rabble-rousing. They're nothing but a bunch of muscle-head cretins who couldn't think their way out of a paper bag. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get some groceries before I head home," replied Yasushi. He turned and nodded to Maki, his way of saying goodbye to her.

"See you at the opening ceremony, Yasushi!" Maki called out to the retreating student.

Taiki grumbled, "Hmmph. Who does he think he is, saying that football is for muscle-heads? I mean, I play American football!"

"That's doesn't really help your case, Taiki," Maki lamented.

***

Once they had ambushed enough incoming first-years, the three football players sat in the team clubhouse, telephones covering nearly every inch of the table. Each of them would take the numbers they received from the students and use them to call local take-out restaurants to locate a student's address. Then, using the addresses they acquired, Yukimitsu, Mamori, Suzuna, and Monta would begin delivering whole reams of fliers to prospective players' houses. Once this was finished, they could only hope that every one of the students would come to tryouts. This year, though, their chances were better considering the success of last season.

"Hey, Hiruma, I've got a question," probed Kurita. "Why'd you go after that white-haired guy today?"

"'Cause, ya fat ass, there was something about him. Something that we could really use on the team," Hiruma buzzed. He blew a bubble with his gum and let it pop.

"I got the same feeling," chimed Sena. "There was something about his eyes, like he was…analyzing everything around him. It was like the quarterback from Ojo, Takami; they have the same eyes."

"So does this mean you guys have already picked him for the team?" asked Suzuna as she skated around the table.

"There're no guarantees, fucking cheerleader. He'll have to prove himself same as everyone else: by going through the tryouts," said Hiruma.

"Well, there're no guarantees that he'll even show up for them, Hiruma," Mamori told the former quarterback. "For all we know, he could just think of not coming. What will you do then?"

"Fucking manager, just let me worry about that. I'll get him to the field before he even knows it," chortled Hiruma as he dialed another number on the phones.

***

After he had picked up the groceries his mother needed, Yasushi walked back home, analyzing every new thing that crossed his path. The school children that lived down the road from him had gotten new bicycles; he would have to find a new way to get to school if he wanted to avoid them. His next door neighbors had gotten a pet dog; Yasushi made a mental note to get new earplugs so he could have a good night's sleep. It seemed that his entire trip home was just one excuse after another to block out the outside world all together.

"Mother, I'm home!" he called out as he passed into his house. His flustered mother, Kimiko, popped out from the kitchen, holding onto a stack of football fliers.

"Yasushi, what is with all these ads about the American football team? They've been coming in all day!" she proclaimed. With all the grace of a frazzled, middle-aged woman, she dumped the fliers onto the ground at her son's feet.

"The football team was doing some early recruiting, that's all. I'd heard talk about how far they would go to get members, but this is just drastic," Yasushi buzzed. Once he passed the groceries off to his mother, he began to march up the stairs to his room. His mother remained below, examining one of the fliers.

"Y'know, Yasu, you should give this a try. You've always been good at sports," she suggested.

Yasushi let out a loud sigh. His mother was always like this whenever a new activity was brought up in her presence. "Yasushi, you should try skateboarding!" "Yasushi, try shogi!" "Join the school's kendo club, Yasushi!" It never ended.

"Mother, I have no intention of going out for that team and no amount of push from you will get me to do otherwise," Yasushi grumbled as he continued his trip upstairs.

"Honestly! You can't go through life avoiding people, Yasushi! You should get out and experience things for a change! Live life a little!" his mother declared from the base of the steps.

Enough was enough. "You want me to go out? To experience life? Fine then, I'll just go off to where Father is!" Yasushi jeered.

His mother watched in shock from the foot of the stairs as the angry teen reached the top and rounded the corner, leaving her sight. What she didn't know was how much he regretted saying those words.

***

Too proud to go back and apologize to his mother, Yasushi remained in his room with his large collection of books. As he lay on his gray futon, flipping through the pages of an old science-fiction book and listening to the ticking of the clock, Yasushi felt his earlier words echo back through his head.

_I'll just go off to where Father is!_

"I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot and I don't know what to do," Yasushi thought out loud. He placed the book down at his side and stared up at his ceiling, the sunlight pouring in through the deck window. And that's when an idea came into his head: He would talk to Hisako.

Hisako Sasaki was a reserved girl that had lived next door to Yasushi and his mother ever since he had moved in eight years ago. Even back then, his attitude towards people was the same; for some reason, whenever he spoke to Hisako, his attitude changed slightly. It most likely wouldn't be noticeable to someone who was unfamiliar with Yasushi, but people like Taiki and Maki could easily tell the difference. Whenever Yasushi felt like talking or asking a question or just complaining about something, he would throw a pebble at Hisako's window to get her attention.

He walked out onto his balcony, pausing only for a moment to feel a spring breeze blow in, and then he took a pebble from his potted plant and lightly tossed it at the sliding door that faced him. It clicked against the glass and fell to the balcony floor below without much sound. A moment later, Hisako hesitantly pulled open the door, but only to the point where Yasushi could only see one of her eyes and a little of her ginger hair.

"Y-Y-Yasushi? Wh-Wh-Wh-What's up?" she stammered.

"Well, I'm feeling lower about myself than usual, I've got a peculiar bee in my bonnet, and I'm feeling frustrated as to your need to hide yourself behind that door still," answered Yasushi.

"S-S-Sorry!" she squeaked as she shut the door and reopened it slowly. When she stepped out onto the balcony, Yasushi noticed that she was wearing the Deimon school uniform. It was loose on Hisako, hiding what few curves she had, and did nothing to particularly flatter her figure. Her hair was pulled away from her face into four ponytails that framed her pale pallor. Hisako stopped at the balcony ledge and lowered her gaze to avoid meeting with Yasushi's, her glasses nearly sliding off her face in the process.

"That's better," said Yasushi. "I just need some advice right now, that's all. I'm not interrupting anything important, am I?"

"Oh n-n-no, I was j-j-just watching some TV," Hisako mumbled. "Wh-What did you want to talk about?"

"I brought up my father to my mother again…" Yasushi sighed.

"Yasushi! Wh-Wh-Why did you do that?!" demanded Hisako.

"I'm not sure. I suppose that, with everything going on today and happening the way it did, I didn't feel like having one more person telling me that I should be doing something I don't want to do," Yasushi groaned. "First it's checking the number board, and then it's signing up for American football tryouts."

"D-D-D-Deimon tried to rrrrrrecruit you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Th-Th-That's incredible! Th-That means th-th-that y-y-y-ou've got t-t-t-talent!"

"I already know that I'm talented; I don't need to be a part of such a brainless sport with a group of muscle-heads."

"I th-think it sounds l-l-like fun," whispered Hisako. She envisioned herself on the sidelines, holding a clipboard to her chest as she watched the team play out on the field. Her job would only be something like 'team manager' or 'secretary' though, since she wasn't really that good at many things. Yasushi's voice drew her from her daydream.

"I don't know what you're thinking, Hisako, but you went from smiling to frowning and shaking your head. Whatever it is that you're thinking, stop it. It's not worth the effort, I'm sure," noted Yasushi.

"Oh! I-I-I-I-I w-w-w-wasn't-"

"Don't worry about it."

They sat there on their respective balconies in silence until Yasushi asked, "So what do you think I should do about things?"

"W-W-Well, i-i-i-if it were m-m-me, I w-would t-t-t-try to t-talk to your mmmmmother. Say th-th-that you're sorry. And just th-th-think: joining th-th-the football team w-w-w-would be a g-good w-w-way for you t-to g-g-get used t-t-to people," explained Hisako.

"Well," replied Yasushi, "I will be the first to admit that I'm not perfect. Close, but not entirely. I think you make a good point though: this could turn into a valuable learning experience as I prepare for university and life past school. I'll do it. I'll try out for the football club."

A bright smile lit up Hisako's face. "You w-w-will?!" she asked with pride.

"On one condition."

"Wh-Wh-What's th-th-that?"

"You need to apply for a position in the club as well."

"H-Huh?!"

"You heard me. This semester, you'll be going to Deimon anyway, so it would be in your best interest if you were to join the club in a position of management or some such thing."

"B-B-B-But I-"

"It makes no sense that you would have me do something I don't like, and then you go and avoid that same thing. If I'm going to be thrown into Hell, I'll drag down whoever shoved me in the first place," Yasushi seethed in mock fury.

"So scary!" Hisako screamed in her head.

After pondering the deal, Hisako looked across to Yasushi and said, "Ah…All right, Yasushi. I'll d-d-do it. I'll t-t-try out for th-the club."

"Excellent," remarked Yasushi. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. I've got to…apologize."

"W-W-Wait, Yasushi! When are the try-outs?" Hisako called out to the retreating boy.

"Three days from now on the athletic field. I'll see you there," said Yasushi, shutting the door behind him.

Hisako remained on her balcony for another minute going over what Yasushi had demanded of her. To interact with people was scary! People were scary and they did scary things to scared people! Ever since she was a little girl, she had avoided confrontations with many people, finding solace only in her family and in her neighbor, who, despite his sometimes rough attitude, was more caring than he let out.

"I can't bear to face so many people! What will they think of some ordinary wallflower like me?!" panicked Hisako. Horrible images of demonic students flashed through her head as they laughed at a miniature version of her. To clear her head, Hisako dug her fists into cheeks, as if she was trying to get rid of any bad feelings that way.

"No! I have to be strong! I can't live forever in fear," declared Hisako as she pumped as fist into the air. When she realized that she was still outside, the ginger-haired girl shrank down in embarrassment and ducked back into her room. She threw herself onto her futon and covered her head with a pillow.

"Who am I kidding?" she asked herself. "I'm just a big chicken, that's all. I can't ever expect to be someone as great as those people. I'm nothing special. How could I dream of being someone cool like that Sakuraba, or Akaba, or Eyeshield 21?"

And that's when a thought crossed her mind. Eyeshield 21, Sena Kobayakawa, the football player who caught the attention of the world in just one year. When he had started out at Deimon, he had worn a mask to hide his identity. Maybe Hisako could do the same.

Hisako walked to the mirror on her desk and examined herself: skin like a porcelain doll, hair a light brown, and an unrecognizable face. Carefully, she removed the ties in her hair, letting it all fall down in her face. Then she took a large handful and held it behind her head. Almost immediately, she could tell there was a huge difference in her appearance. Grinning with confidence, Hisako made a 'V' sign with her index and middle finger like a bad anime character.

"This will definitely work," Hisako giggled as she took her glasses off.

***

"Mother? Mother, are you downstairs?" Yasushi called out as he walked down the steps.

Despite his cold demeanor, Yasushi really did care for his mother, if only for the fact that Kimiko was very child-like and almost unable to take care of herself on her own. The last time he had made her sad, she went over to a friend's house and had more sake than she could handle; she came home in a police car, singing an old pop song from the eighties. Kimiko was a young mother, having given birth to Yasushi when she was in her third year of high school, and for the past five years had been raising her son on her own. Even with everything that was going against her, she had done well for herself and her son, earning enough of a living so that Yasushi could go to school and they could live in a nice suburban home. She wasn't a bad mother by any extent.

"Huh? Izzat you, Yas'shi?" Kimiko's voice slurred from the kitchen. Just as Yasushi had expected, she was drinking sweet sake again. "Go 'way. Don' wanna talk t' youze."

"Mother…I need to talk with you. I wanted to say…I'm sorry," Yasushi blurted out.

When he said this, Kimiko looked up into her son's face with overly-large sad eyes like an anime character. Even if her expression was exaggerated, it made sense that she would be surprised: to have Yasushi apologize came maybe once a year if she were lucky.

"D'you re-," Kimiko hiccupped, "really mean that?"

"Yes," Yasushi sighed as he sat down at the kitchen table across from his mother. "I shouldn't have brought him up. My being frustrated about everything today shouldn't have made me do that. So I'm sorry, Mother."

"Aww...Yashi! Yer so adorable when yer humble n' stuff!" Kimiko giggled. "I assept yer apol'gy. Now, give yer ol' momma a hug!" She lunged across the table like the rowdy drunk she was, only to have Yasushi duck away from her at the last second. All she got was a face full of the wooden table.

"Hey! Youze moved!" cried Kimiko as she rubbed the part of her head that hit the tabletop.

"Well, next time, don't try and tackle me like that," said Yasushi.

While Kimiko began to scrape herself from the table, her son worked around the kitchen, preparing dinner for the two of them. As he reached for a box of noodles in the cupboard, Yasushi tried making small talk with his mother.

"I spoke with Hisako earlier," he droned.

"Hisako? Oh, she'sh a good girl. You two would make th' perf'ct couple," Kimiko slurred.

Yasushi ignored his mother's ramblings and continued. "I think I'm going to try out for the football club after all. Just so that I can say I did it and get you and Nakano and everyone else to get off my back about it," the young man buzzed.

There wasn't a reply from Kimiko, so Yasushi called to her, "Mother? Mother, are you asleep?"

"Y'know, Yushi," Kimiko hummed, "call yer old man what ya will. Bum, deserter, spineless, chicken, yellow…"

"If you're trying to defend him, you're doing a very bad job of it."

"But he's ambitious. He's got goals fer himself, and I know that he's out there tryin' ta make them happen. I know ya don't think much of him, but I hope an' pray that he's doing what makes him happy in this world. That he's succeeding an' making his dreams come true. A man needs to find something to strive fer, m'boy, and what I want to know is: what's yer dream? What do you want in life?" probed Kimiko.

Yasushi stopped cutting the onion in his hands and looked to his mother. Hers was a question he had asked himself often. What was his goal in life? What did he want to become?

"I'm…not sure I can answer that, Mother," he remarked. It was the only answer he had come up with at this point.

"See, but that's not a problem. Yer young, you've got yer whole life ahead of you. I want you to treasure these next three years, because this is the only time ya've got left. Make the most of it, do things that are fun, that are stupid, and things that you'll remember all yer life. Don't go knockin' some girl up, like yer father did, but I want you to experience all that can be done. Strive to become better every day, Yasushi, and then, when it's all over, you can look ahead to a bright future that you've made for yourself."

"M…Mother…"

For once, Yasushi was at a loss for things to say. It was amazing that his mother was able to pull together a full thought like that in her state, but what was even more amazing was what she said. There was something in those words that made him almost want to go out and try his hardest.

When she finished her speech, Kimiko took a swig from her bottle of sweet sake and asked her son, "Hey, Yoshi, have ya had this stuff b'fore? Is great!"

"And we're back to normal. Great," Yasushi grumbled. He looked back to his mother though and whispered so that she wouldn't hear him.

"Thanks, Mom."

***

Three days later, just a day before the first day of school, dozens of students poured out to the athletic fields for the American football tryouts. Mamori had set up different stations where people would sign up to join. For those who wanted to play, they would go with Sena and Hiruma to the far end of the field; anyone interested in a management position would talk with Mamori and Yukimitsu at the club house; for the girls that wanted to join the cheerleading squad, Suzuna was holding tryouts at the opposite end of the field. So many prospective students turned out for the event, it was hard to turn them down. Thankfully, that was something Hiruma was good at doing.

"Listen up! We're going to push you today as if this were a real practice! You will run fast, you will lift a ton, and anyone not willing to give this their all will be shot on sight! Am I clear?!" the demonic coach hollered.

"Y-Y-Yes!" the nervous enclave of students replied.

"Will the people in Group A go with Kurita and the ones in Group B follow Kobayakawa?" requested Musashi. He nearly pushed Hiruma out of the way so that he would leave the prospects alone.

"Right now, we're going to do check how much you can bench press," said the kind Kurita. "Everyone, follow me to the weight room."

Yasushi and Taiki walked along to the weight room with the rest of the potential players. All of them were dressed in the Deimon gym uniform: white t-shirt and black sweatpants. A lot of the students were talking amongst each other, comparing their stats with each other and seeing who was faster and stronger.

"I checked how much I can press just last night! Wanna know how much it was, Shirahata?" Taiki asked the taller boy.

"Not in particular," said Yasushi.

"I bet it's more than yours!" shouted Taiki, grinning like a monkey. "I've been working out just so I can be on the team! I'm unstoppable!"

While talking with Yasushi, Taiki began to swing his arms around in the air to demonstrate how he had been training. One of his fists swung out when he tried to show how he had been practicing his toss and he punched the boy behind him.

"Hey! Watch your fist!" the student spat out as he pushed himself off the ground.

"S-Sorry about that!" Taiki meekly apologized. "I didn't mean to hit you!"

"It's okay. I no was paying attention. No problem!" the tall boy laughed back. He seemed to be okay, but Yasushi had to wonder why he was talking so strangely. The instant he looked at the boy's face, he knew it.

"You're American?" asked the aloof Yasushi.

"Yes! I Kyle Gould. Sorry, I no good at speak Japanese," answered Kyle.

"I can tell. You must be a transfer student."

"Uh-huh. I here until summer end, and then I go back to New York, so I give everything for now!"

"That is so awesome!" cheered Taiki as he clapped Kyle across the back. "Oy, you're an all right guy, Gould. What position you think you want?"

"No sure. At school, I sometimes play running back. I sort of fast, sort of strong, but I can no make tell what I play," Kyle replied.

"I know what I wanna be: a lineman! You play line, you're the one holding things together so the team can go forward. Offense F-T-W!" roared Taiki as he charged through the crowd.

"He am very excitable, no?" Kyle laughed.

"You have NO idea," Yasushi groaned as they approached the weight room.

***

Sena led Group B over to a different part of the field where two red lines had been painted forty yards apart from each other. He turned and spoke with the large group. "Okay, um…right now, w-we're going t-t-to…uh…" the running back stammered, nervous at having to talk with so many people.

"Get on with it! Some of us have shit to do after this!" Shizuka jeered from the middle of the group. At first, Sena was unsure of how to continue, which was why he was glad Monta was there with him.

"This is the speed examination!" the wide receiver explained. "You'll be running from this red line to the far one and we'll see how fast you go. Any questions? Good! Sena, it's all yours." Monta tossed a stopwatch to his friend only for it to go flying into a first-year's face. After a quick round of apologizing, Sena dashed down to the other red line, impressing everybody with his speed.

"First up is number thirty-seven: Yuuto Anami!" called out Monta.

Yuuto took his place at the starting line and got down into a runner's start. He spat out the lit cigarette in his mouth and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

"Take your mark…GO!" Monta shouted as he fired a pop gun into the air.

Right off the bat, Yuuto was full-on sprinting. Sena noted that the boy had held a steady speed the whole way, from start to finish. "Five-point-one seconds! Good job!" He congratulated Yuuto. The boy accepted the praise while he lit another cigarette.

"Um…are you sure that's a good idea?" Sena nervously questioned. "If you're going to be playing for this team, you really shouldn't be smoking…"

"Hmm?" hummed Yuuto. For a moment, he stared at Sena like the boy had grown a second and third head, and then he looked back down at the box of cigarettes in his pocket. Then he glanced back at Sena and then back to the box.

"P…Please stop that. You're freaking me out."

"All right then." Yuuto plucked the cigarette from his mouth and dropped it to the ground, where he stamped it out with his foot. "I'll quit. Never really liked the taste of that stuff anyway," he said as he walked past Sena to rejoin the group.

"Wow…" thought Sena to himself. "Such a disinterested guy. I wonder why he wants to join the team."

"Next is number 14: Shizuka Hashimoto!" yelled Monta.

Shizuka shoved the gaggle of boys out of her way as she swaggered up to the starting line. The very idea of her being there was enough to draw the boys' attention, but her being there in tight, black bloomers only added to the spectacle. Monta had to look away just to avoid getting a nosebleed.

"No! Mustn't think about that!" he berated himself. "I gotta keep my thoughts on the try-outs! Oh, but what if Mamori were to wear bloomers…" The monkey boy lost himself in a stream of blood.

"Oy!" Shizuka shouted. "Can't one of you piss-heads get to work?"

"I'll take over for Monta," Sena grinned in anxious embarrassment.

"Well, hurry up. I want you all to see the best run of your life!"

Shizuka bent down to the ground, furrowed her brow in concentration, and then sprang out like a wild beast when Sena fired the gun. Her running was smooth and, above all else, fast. Much faster than Sena or anyone else had been expecting. When he pressed the stop button, the running back's eyes bugged out in shock.

"F…four-point-nine seconds! That's incredible!" he shouted.

"Booyah! How do ya like that, bitches?!" Shizuka mocked as she skipped over to Yuuto. "Four-point-nine! Faster than you, shorty."

"'Least I don't have any thunder thighs," he coughed.

"What'd you say, you little shit?!?"

"This is a bad idea on so many levels," Sena moaned as he set up the next person.

***

"This is a bad idea on so many levels," Yasushi grumbled while waiting for one of the stations to open up. The football team had divided up the room so that they had four benches open with four different athletes monitoring each one. So far there had been nothing abnormal about the whole event; then it came time for Taiki to lift. When the huge boy walked up to the bench, he had requested that the football player add on more weights for him.

"I'm gonna send it right through the roof if you set it too low!" Taiki chuckled as he prepared himself.

"Oh, I bet," Togano replied.

"Yo, Shirahata! Spot me!" shouted Taiki.

Wordlessly, Yasushi walked over to the bench and got behind Taiki. The weights he had added on totaled 200 kilos and, though Yasushi could have cared less, he had to ask, "Taiki, don't you think you might be overdoing this? I hardly think you can lift over four hundred pounds."

"Nonsense! I lift this much weight in my sleep!" grinned the dim boy.

"Try not to die," sighed Yasushi.

Finally, Taiki lifted the bar from off the rack; immediately, it crushed down onto his chest. Everyone around was unsure whether to laugh or to help him out, Yasushi included. The white-haired boy began to move to lift the barbell off, but then he saw something that made him back away.

"Hey, why doesn't anybody help that guy?!" called out one of the prospects. "He could die!" The student pushed his way out of the crowd and over to the bench, but was stopped by Yasushi. "What're you doing?!"

"Letting him finish," Yasushi grimly replied.

He turned back to Taiki, who was still struggling with the weights and asked, "Is this it? All your bravado? Come on, Nakano, I know you better than that. Even when you failed, you still gave it your all. So, tell me: is this really the best you can do?"

"Luh…Like…hell…it is…" Taiki grunted. Slowly, but surely, he pushed the weights off his chest by just a few inches.

"Can't you do any more than that?" Yasushi buzzed. "Weren't you the one who said he really wanted to be on the team? I'll say this: if you can't lift this weight, they won't have any need for you."

With those words burned into his head, a burst of energy shot through every inch of Taiki's body. He cried out, "Mehakamehaka!" and managed to toss the barbell up into the air. He rolled off of the bench just as the weight came crashing down on top. Everyone in the room stared in shock and, some cases, horror.

"Told you I could do it," Taiki laughed as he passed by Yasushi. "Ain't nothing to it! Oh, and Shirahata?"

"What?"

"Thanks. I don't think I could've done that without you."

"Hmph. You shouldn't thank me; I was only taking pity on you, that's all."

Taiki smiled to himself for he knew that was the closest thing to 'you're welcome' that he would ever get from Yasushi. "Yo, can someone point me in the direction of the nurse's office? I can't move my arms," the boy laughed.

***

Over at the cheerleader's auditions, Suzuna Taki was sitting in eager anticipation while she watched the girls perform. There was a huge group of girls at the tryouts because of the enormous popularity of the football team, but, so far, not one stood out to the head cheerleader. Suzuna had observed many performances that day: some were excellent and were almost guaranteed spots on the team, while most were just mediocre or downright awful. Students of all shapes and sizes had turned out, yet not a single one could make themselves unique in Suzuna's eyes. And then Katsumi Takahata stepped up to the field.

"Okay, next!" Suzuna called out to the line of girls.

At the head of the very long line was a petite girl, not much taller than Suzuna herself, with long, ginger-colored hair held back behind her head with an orange ribbon. At first glance, her pale skin gave her the appearance of a pretty, porcelain doll, but the steeled glint in her eyes threw out any notions that this girl was delicate. Clad in a middle school gym uniform, bloomers and all, confidence was bursting from her as she made her way out in front of the girls.

"I like this one already," Suzuna thought to herself. She asked the girl, "So, you're…Katsumi Takahata, right?"

"Yep!" the ginger girl responded. "Ready when you are, miss!"

"Please, just call me Suzuna," the indigo girl giggled. "What will you be doing for the tryout, Katsi? You can either do the Devil Bat cheer or do your own dance."

"I've come up with a variation of the Devil Bat cheer," said Katsumi.

"Okay! Let's see it!" Suzuna cheered. Finally, something different had come along. All the girls who had come before had done their own dances, but there was so much, none stood out.

Katsumi composed herself, clapping her hands together and holding them close to her chest, her eyes shut tight. "Don't mess this up…don't mess this up…don't mess this up…" she continuously chanted in her head. Then, her eyes burst open and she began her show.

**DEVIL BATS, DEVIL BATS, FIGHT!**

She started by bursting her hands out and twirling them around in front of her as if she had pompons in them. Then she jumped up into the air and touched the tips of her toes with her hands.

**DEVIL BATS, DEVIL BATS, GO!**

Next, she spun around on the very tips of her shoes, and then Katsumi flipped into the air. Her fingers latched onto her orange ribbon while airborne and yanked it free, letting her ginger hair out while she spun the ribbon around her.

**DEVIL BATS, DEVIL BATS, FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!**

Right when she touched down on the ground, Katsumi flipped around into the air, spinning sideways. The orange ribbon twirled about her like a band of fire, flickering in the sunlight while its wielder spun faster than any of the girls thought possible. All this time, she kept on cheering.

**KILL THEM! CRUSH THEM! TAKE THEM DOWN!**

**YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!**

**LET'S FIGHT, DEVIL BATS!**

Finally, Katsumi landed back on the ground, feet first. Out of breath, she sat there on the field for another moment while all the girls cheered and applauded her performance. The ginger girl waved back weakly to everyone while Suzuna rolled up to her.

"Katsi, that was incredible! I've never seen anything like that before! Where did you learn to spin like that," the head cheerleader questioned.

"I…I used to…to do…gymnastics," Katsumi breathlessly replied. "Hope you liked it."

"Liked it?! That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!" Suzuna shouted.

"Between you and me," she whispered to Katsumi, "I'd say you're a lock for the team."

"Thanks…" Katsumi smiled.

Once she had gathered her breath again, Katsumi said farewell to the field and was told by Suzuna that the results of the tryouts would be posted on Club Day. The ginger girl waved goodbye to the cheerleaders and made her way to the back of the school, where a green satchel sat in wait. In the bag was a set of plain clothing that didn't stand out and four little, black ribbons. She changed in private at the back of the school so that no one would see her. When she walked out from behind the school, Katsumi Takahata had gone and been replaced by Hisako Sasaki.

"Wow…that was so exhilarating!" Hisako thought to herself. "I can't believe I was able to get out in front of all those girls and perform like that! Wait till I tell Yasushi about this!"

***

"Wait till I get Taiki for this…" Maki growled. "I am going to kill that jerk!"

Earlier that day, Taiki had convinced his friend and neighbor, Maki, to come out with him to the football tryouts. What he hadn't told her was that he intended for her to tryout WITH him, not realizing she had no intention to get involve with football. After realizing that Maki would probably die as soon as she was tackled, Taiki suggested that she try cheerleading. Maki left him with a bright red imprint of her hand on his face.

It wasn't that she hated football (cheerleading was another story); it was merely because Maki had put a lot onto her plate as it was. She had already looked into several other clubs and organizations at the school and there were so many that appealed to her, the former class president was having trouble settling on just one. There were too many things she wanted to do!

"Excuse me, are you here to apply for a position in the club?" a red-headed girl asked her. She was older than Maki by a year or two and was probably a third-year at the school. There was an air of control and care about her.

"Oh, I'm, uh…sort of," Maki answered. "See, I don't know if I should be here. I don't know anything about football; the only reason I came was because a friend of mine sort of dragged me out here while he's at tryouts."

"That's okay," the red-head smiled. "We're looking for people to run things behind the scenes, like secretaries, accountants…things like that. There's also an opening for assistant manager, but, well, you need to pass a test."

"What's the test?" queried Maki. This was beginning to pique her curiosity.

"It's a personality test more than anything. You have to prove how far you're willing to go with the team."

A test like that was all that was needed to be on the team? Then again, Maki wasn't even sure she wanted to be a part of it in the first place. What good would she be if she joined but wasn't dedicated enough?

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I don't think I'm cut out for this."

"But you haven't even taken the test," remarked the red-head.

"I know, it's just…I'm not sure this is for me. I still need to decide," Maki explained.

"That's understandable," said the red-head. "If you change your mind, though, we're going to be continuing the tryouts tomorrow at the Tokyo Tower."

"Why the Tokyo Tower?" Maki asked.

"It's for the next part of the tryouts. That's where the coaches will make the final call on who stays and who goes."

"Huh."

Maki felt awkward and decided to make an excuse to leave. "Well, I'm gonna, um…wait for my friend to finish his tryouts." So embarrassed was she that she hadn't noticed the smile on Mamori Anezaki's face.

"That girl remind you of anyone, Anezaki?" asked Musashi as he walked up to the manager.

"Yeah," Mamori replied. "Me."

***

"Thank you all for coming out today," said Musashi as he addressed all the prospective football players. "We saw a lot of good potential today, and we hope you all come back tomorrow for the next part of the tryouts."

"Is it still here on the field?" asked one of the students.

"Nope," Hiruma answered. "Meet us, nine o'clock sharp, at Tokyo Tower. If you aren't there on time, you're name will be taken off the fucking list of prospects, so make sure you get there by any means necessary!"

So the students dispersed to return home after the long day they had; most would be returning tomorrow morning for the same thing. The question everyone asked was "What's at Tokyo Tower?" No one quite knew for sure, but Yasushi had a feeling. A feeling he didn't like.

He felt like he was going to be stepping into Hell. And this time, there was no one to drag down with him…

***

**New Player Stats:**

**Name: **Yasushi Shirahata

**Height: **5'11"

**Weight: **75 kg (165 lbs)

**40-yard Dash: **5.1 s

**Bench Press: **60 kg (132 lbs)

**Birthday: **June 23


End file.
